Work assigned over the summer is very much dreaded by students, but does that mean students should be the ones designing these assignments? A majority of schools assign summer assignments to ensure that students still receive an education during their time off from school. While there is much debate on whether the student should have the right to design these projects, the best option is for these projects to be teacher-designed. Summer projects should be teacher-designed because it ensures that students will work efficiently, understand the topic, and that the assignments will be safe and appropriate.

In order to have quality work produced, and productive students, summer projects must be teacher-designed. Having set rules and requirements created by teachers, ensures that students will complete the tasks to a high level. During the summer, students would rather not have educational work to focus on, but projects created by the teacher enforces these students to do so. If these projects were student-designed, it could potentially allow them to finesse the system, and create a project that does not require much thinking and work. Student-designed projects also leaves room for error. Projects constructed by students leaves the door open for many mistakes, which will ultimately hurt the student in the end. This prevents students from working efficiently and fully understanding the topic they are working on. The goal of teacher-designed projects is to not control the students, but to make sure that the students are obtaining knowledge, understand the assignment, and are producing high quality work. Students may be confused or have numerous of questions with student-designed projects since there are no specific guidelines and rules, so having teacher-designed projects are ideal because they explicitly state what they are looking for.

Teacher-designed projects come with a list of guidelines and criteria that prevents students from working on something that could potentially be dangerous or inappropriate. If students had the ability to come up with their own projects, it gives them an opportunity to select a topic that could be unsafe or not school appropriate. This is especially important for science projects or English assignments. Giving students the power to choose their projects could be risky when it comes to these two subjects. For science projects, students could end up harming themselves with unsafe chemicals or substances because a lack of a rubric and criteria created by the teacher. For English assignments, students might choose controversial topics that are not appropriate for the school environment, but would not know due to a lack of strict guidelines. The possibility of projects being unsafe and inappropriate are not likely if they are designed by teachers.

Some may argue that assignments should be student-designed because it allows the student to express themselves creatively through their work. By displaying their creativity and thought process, it makes the idea of having work over the summer more enjoyable. However, having projects that are created by the student leaves room for interpretation, which could confuse students, and may take them in the wrong direction. In addition, some students may not be that creative, and cannot come up with a project on their own. Teacher-designed assignments still allow students to show what they know, but with stricter guidelines to ensure that quality work is being produced from the students. If students are allowed to design their own projects, it might result in an end product that does not meet the standard of work it should, especially since students would rather not complete work in the summer. Because of these issues and flaws, having student-design projects is not a wise choice.

Having teacher-designed projects is the best option for both teachers and students because it guarantees that students are working hard to meet the requirements of the assignment, comprehending the topic of the project, and working on projects that are both safe and school appropriate. In order for schools to ensure that students continue learning during their break, the most effective project for students to work on, is one designed by teachers.       